Questions about backing up dvds.

natopgun · July 14, 2005 8:35AM

hi guys

it's been a month to hang around looking for some knowledges about using mac.

now I'm pretty much able to handle simple things with mac. thanks to guys answering Qs in this forum.

yesterday I bought a second hand dvd (passion of christ, very good movie I reckon

). but it's got some scratches on the disk since it's secondhand... so I surfed web to find out how to back up the movie, and found this program called "mac the ripper". so I followed manual and done it. but I've got video and audio files separately, and also those files were too big (about 4.3gb) to have them in my 20gb partitioned hdd. couldn't even play them together...

have I done something wrong?? is there any way that I can put them together and reduce file size so that I can store it in my hdd??

thanks guys. always appreciate your help here.

baranovich · July 14, 2005 8:41AM

The short answer is YES! You need to compress the raw DVD data into a more managable format such as Divx or Xvid. You might want to check out this app:

http://homepage.mac.com/major4/

I use it all the time to encode video from DVD's. If you have questions about what settings to use or how it works, post back here and I'll help you along.

natopgun · July 14, 2005 8:59AM

hi

thanks for fast reply

didn't expect that so fast

I'm downloading this ffmpegx as you said.

hu...

I've read those instructions on the web, it sounds like other languages to me...

sorry I'm such a dumb with computing...

I'll post questions about setting up this program that you recommand after the download finishes.

thanks for helping me out here.

baranovich · July 14, 2005 9:01AM

No problem... let me know what you need to know.

natopgun · July 14, 2005 9:36AM

Quote:

Originally posted by baranovich

No problem... let me know what you need to know.

hi again.

I downloaded this program. during setup, where do I locate components files to??

thanks for helping

baranovich · July 14, 2005 9:39AM

When you first launch to program, it should ask you to locate a few files (I think this is what you are talking about). Under each should be the URL where they can be downloaded, if that has changed, look on the site document take for the location of the other files that you need.

natopgun · July 14, 2005 9:57AM

Quote:

Originally posted by baranovich

When you first launch to program, it should ask you to locate a few files (I think this is what you are talking about). Under each should be the URL where they can be downloaded, if that has changed, look on the site document take for the location of the other files that you need.

hi there again

I followed what you told me and I'm downloading this files. it's gonna take a bit though since my line is bit slow.

thanks for leading me to here. really apprecited.

o. after download do I just click install and will be all sweet, huh??

baranovich · July 14, 2005 10:00AM

Unfortunately its not quite so simple, you need to move the files into the ffmpegx directory (probably inside of the "Applications" folder on your HD). Then when you launch ffmpegx and it asks you to locate the files, you need to manually point to them (ie by selected their location). THEN everything should be good and you can move on to learning how to use the program.

By the way, what kind of Mac are you using? Depending on the speed of your Mac it might take a while to encode an entire DVD.

natopgun · July 14, 2005 10:12AM

Quote:

Originally posted by baranovich

Unfortunately its not quite so simple, you need to move the files into the ffmpegx directory (probably inside of the "Applications" folder on your HD). Then when you launch ffmpegx and it asks you to locate the files, you need to manually point to them (ie by selected their location). THEN everything should be good and you can move on to learning how to use the program.

By the way, what kind of Mac are you using? Depending on the speed of your Mac it might take a while to encode an entire DVD.

I downloaded all the files and located, but I faced the problem with mpeg2enc file... I went to the site to download and clicked it, it suddenly started to show whole bunch of words and numbers... so I downloaded it using option+click that made it download it on my desktop somehow, but it doesn't work... that file I just downloaded opens up terminal if I double clicked it... do I need copy those whole bunch of words and numbers to terminal????

rest of two files seems fine though...

thanks again and sorry if I keep bothering you.

baranovich · July 14, 2005 10:15AM

Don't worry, its no bother. I don't mind helping at all.

If you are having trouble with mpeg2enc I suggest you delete it and try redownloading it. Remember that you just need to point ffmpegx to the files you download, you don't need to actually open them by themselves.

natopgun · July 14, 2005 10:19AM

Quote:

Originally posted by baranovich

Don't worry, its no bother. I don't mind helping at all.

If you are having trouble with mpeg2enc I suggest you delete it and try redownloading it. Remember that you just need to point ffmpegx to the files you download, you don't need to actually open them by themselves.

could you go have a look at this site, please...

http://mjpeg.sourceforge.net/MacOS/

this is for mpeg2enc file. but I just can't get it downloaded... it gives instructions, but bit confused with it....

thanks

baranovich · July 14, 2005 10:32AM

Ohhhh! I see why you are having a problem, sorry about that its a bit different than I remembered.

You should be able to download what you need from this link:

http://mjpeg.sourceforge.net/MacOS/mpeg2enc

You should hold down Control (CTRL) when you click the link and then select 'Save Link As' (the wording may be different depending on what browser you use).

natopgun · July 14, 2005 10:39AM

Quote:

Originally posted by baranovich

Ohhhh! I see why you are having a problem, sorry about that its a bit different than I remembered.

You should be able to download what you need from this link:

http://mjpeg.sourceforge.net/MacOS/mpeg2enc

You should hold down Control (CTRL) when you click the link and then select 'Save Link As' (the wording may be different depending on what browser you use).

now I have this showing up... ##cp: /Library/Application Support/ffmpegX/mpeg2enc: No such file or directory

hu...

I must done something wrong huh??

I really feel sorry for you bro.

really thanks for helping me.

o4blackwrx · July 14, 2005 10:53AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Natopgun

now I have this showing up... ##cp: /Library/Application Support/ffmpegX/mpeg2enc: No such file or directory

hu... I must done something wrong huh??

I really feel sorry for you bro.

really thanks for helping me.

Go to the root Library -> Application Support and create a new folder called ffmpegX.

Once you do that it will install.

baranovich · July 14, 2005 11:01AM

Quote:

Originally posted by O4BlackWRX

Go to the root Library -> Application Support and create a new folder called ffmpegX.

Once you do that it will install.

Yeah, do this and that should fix it.

natopgun · July 14, 2005 11:04AM

Quote:

Originally posted by O4BlackWRX

Go to the root Library -> Application Support and create a new folder called ffmpegX.

Once you do that it will install.

wooow

just like you told me... once I've done that, it just installed in a sec... geez how did you know that??!!

thanks very much for that. you guys are really cool man.

natopgun · July 14, 2005 11:07AM

Quote:

Originally posted by baranovich

Yeah, do this and that should fix it.

hey buddy.

I really appreciate all your help.

thanks for teaching those suffs man.

I couldn't even think to try this if you didn't teach me.

thanks again and bless you man.

baranovich · July 14, 2005 11:10AM

Don't worry, we were all beginners at some point. Just think someday you'll get to explain all this (if its even close to what it is now) to someone who is just starting.

Okay, now that its installed you shouldn't have too much more trouble. Drag your video files into the box that says "Source Format > From". Then you can mess around with the settings in the "Target Format > To" box. As I mentioned earlier, chances are that you want to use Divx for the video and MP3 for the sound.

Good luck and let me know if you need any more assistance.

nyclaphotoguy · July 30, 2005 4:34PM

Hi. I'm very new to this site and saw a few of your posts. You seem very helpful so I thought I would address my question to you...I hope that's okay.

I have a superdrive Power Book G4 and would love to know if I can make copies of movie dvds without 3rd party sortware. A friend recommended I copy the dvd to my hard drive and then use disk utility's, "create a new image command" to copy the movie onto a blank dvd. I did this and the copied dvd verified..but when I tried to play it back it only ran for about three seconds, showing the FBI warning briefly before stopping with an error message. If anybody knows of a method that would be great.

Also, since most dvds have two hour capacity, can I fit a 120+ minute movie onto one? Or is some sort of compression software needed? I know there are the new 8.5GB/240 min DVDs....maybe that solves the problem. Also I know that sometimes the DVD extras can be included..and sometimes not. I have a feeling that they can be with 3rd party software.

Please advise.

Questions about backing up dvds.

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